HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's education ministry says it is investigating into how school text books donated by the U.N. children's agency wind up in the hands of bookstores and street vendors.

The United Nations Children's Fund has supplied 22 million books since late 2010 after a decade of economic meltdown that left many schools without teaching materials. In some schools, scores of pupils shared a single book.

Education Minister David Coltart said Friday culprits behind the theft of books - officially the property of government schools - will be prosecuted

The books, stamped and identifiable, sell for up to $10 on the street. A main teachers union says teachers may be stealing to make up for poor salaries.

The odds are against you. You are 19 times as likely to be struck by lightning twice, 33 times as likely to be killed in the next year by bees and 40 times as likely to be dealt five blackjacks in a row as you are to win Mega Millions.

By the numbers, you have a 1 in 175,711,536 chance of picking the winning numbers and scoring a record $540-million jackpot.

Put another way: If you buy 50 tickets a week, you will win the jackpot every 68,000 years.

Tonight’s Mega Millions lottery jackpot has grown to an estimated $640 million, according to the Massachusetts Lottery.

The jackpot had already broken the record Thursday for the largest lottery prize in history.

The new estimate, which was $100 million higher than Thursday’s, was announced this morning after officials from participating states spoke with each other and assessed the volume of ticket sales. Paul Sternburg, executive director of the Massachusetts Lottery, said the estimate was conservative and could rise even higher after all the ticket sales are tallied tonight.

Over the past three days, nearly $9 million in tickets have been sold in Massachusetts. As of noon, the total for the day was approaching $3 million. But the busiest time was expected to be between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sternburg said. “The sales figures are flying,” he said.

He estimated that the day’s sales could eventually total $10 to $15 million. Tickets for the game are $1.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

These men deny that race played a role in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Please join us in calling on the Republican National Committee to tell them, 'Not this time':

Dear Friend,

Last Friday, President Obama reminded the country how personal Trayvon Martin's death feels to any parent of a Black child. He said, “You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” 1

There is no doubt that Trayvon — a 17-year-old boy armed only with Skittles and iced tea — was considered “suspicious” and subsequently killed because of the color of his skin. But many on the right — including presidential candidates Rick Santorum2 and Newt Gingrich3 — want to avoid acknowledging the clear role that race and stereotypes played in this case. Instead, they’re attacking the President for telling the truth, and they’re trying to push race out of the picture.

We have reached a critical moment. Americans of all walks of life are talking openly and honestly about racial profiling, targeting and the dehumanization of Black boys and men. We can’t stand by while politicians who claim to want to lead all Americans play dumb and deny the racial realities surrounding Trayvon’s death.

Please join us in calling on the Republican National Committee — which leads the party and coordinates the GOP’s election strategy — to withhold its support from any candidate who uses Trayvon Martin's killing to divide Americans and distort honest conversations about race for political gain. If the RNC refuses, it will send a clear message about the GOP's willingness to lead on the most critical issues facing all Americans. Click here to take action, and please ask your friends and family to do the same:

Trayvon’s death had everything to do with what he looked like. But some conservatives are determined to deny the reality of racial prejudice in America and the mortal threat it poses.

It’s no great surprise that right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh responded to President Obama’s comments last week by saying, “It is the least important thing, what the kid looks like."4 But Americans have reason to expect better from the GOP’s presidential candidates, men who claim to be able to represent all of us.

Rick Santorum accused the President of trying to “drive a wedge in America.”5 Newt Gingrich lashed out with: “What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like.”6

The Republican National Committee, chaired by Reince Priebus, has the power to reign in cynical, dishonest comments like these. The RNC develops and promotes the Republican political platform and coordinates its fundraising and election strategy.

Please join us in calling on the RNC to withhold its support from any GOP candidate who responds to Trayvon Martin's killing by sweeping its race-related realities under the rug. If the RNC refuses, it will send a clear message about the party's willingness to lead on the most critical issues facing Americans. And when you sign, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

-- Rashad, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Natasha, Kim and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team

March 29th, 2012

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

If you don't buy a ticket in the Mega Millions lottery, no way you're going to win the all-time record jackpot of half-a-billion freaking dollars.

The drawing is Friday night.

On the other hand, the odds stink.

One chance in 175.7 million.

I'm thinking of a random person in Pennsylvania. Guess who. You did? Not good enough. Still gotta guess the person's astrological sign.

You could, of course, form a lottery pool and improve your odds. Say 100 people each put in $10. That improves your odds a thousandfold. But it also would reduce your take to 3.59 million - before taxes - if you opt for cash.

Still, it would still be easier to guess a designated strand from an average full head of hair.

Of course, there are other considerations.

If you don't play, you have no hope of leaving your %$@*& job right away.

And you sure don't want to have to show up while your ex-colleagues party because their pool won.

Other rationalizations abound.

By buying a ticket, you're doing your part for seniors in Pennsylvania or students in New Jersey.

Of course, you could just hand a senior 50 cents.

If you win, you'll definitely be doing a lot for Uncle Sam.

By not buying a ticket, though, you're proving you're not part of the herd mentality that thinks money is the answer to all ills. It's better for your soul.

If money is power, and power corrupts, a lottery jackpot would absolutely corrupt you.

On the hand, there are a lot of people with ills and medical bills you could help if you won a lot of cash. Regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the "Obamacare" case.

If you're still undecided, flip a coin.

Check a fortune cookie.

Or consider a far-out idea from physics - and the Fox show Fringe.

There might be an infinite number of parallel universes, with an infinite numbers of yous.

If that's the case, no matter what you do here, at least one of them is a cinch to win.

The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has condemned the military mutiny in Mali, saying it is highly condemnable and totally unacceptable.

Senator Ekweremadu who reiterated that the days of military and unconstitutional takeover of power in any part of West Africa were over enjoined all members of the Malian armed forces to restrict themselves to their constitutional duties.

“This political development in Mali at a time the sub-region has achieved democratic governance and substantial regional stability at great human and material costs is an assault on the collective will and sensibilities of the peoples of West Africa and therefore totally condemnable and unacceptable”, he said.

The Speaker who threw the weight of the Community Parliament behind the position of the ECOWAS Commission on the political situationthat “ECOWAS position on Zero Tolerance to any form of forceful takeover or disruption of democratic governance in the sub-region will never be compromised as such would amount to a grievous setback for regional integration and development.”

Ekweremadu who also doubles as the Deputy President of Nigerian Senateurged the Authorities of Heads of State of ECOWAS, the African Union, United Nations and members of the international community in general to rally around Mali to defend the nation’s fledging democracy.

He expressed confidence that the committed efforts by the ECOWAS and the African Union would lead to a peaceful resolution of the rebellion in the north of Mali, urging the mutineers to “return to the barracks and not aggravate the fragile peace in the country”.

Recalling the role of the Community Parliament to protecting democratic governance in Niger Republic and the Republic of Guinea, the Speaker assured that the Parliament was observing developments in the West African country and would take further appropriate steps as events demand.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing, in Bethlehem, Palestine on March 19th, 2012 of Diogo Lobo, husband of Tina Lobo, dad to Mervyn, Beulah and Lois. Pa to Ghislaine, Shimona, Eamonne, Carylye, Stephen and Elora.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Three weeks ago, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was gunned down by self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. Despite Zimmerman admitting to following, confronting, and killing Trayvon, he has yet to be arrested or charged with any crime.1

Just minutes before Trayvon was killed, Zimmerman had called police stating that Trayvon looked "suspicious." Trayvon was unarmed and walking back to his father's home in Sanford, Florida when Zimmerman accosted him.

At the crime scene, Sanford police botched their questioning of Zimmerman, refused to take the full statements of witnesses, and pressured neighbors to side with the shooter's claim of self-defense.2 As it turns out, Sanford's police department has a history of failing to hold perpetrators accountable for violent acts against Black victims, and the police misconduct in Trayvon's case exemplifies the department's systemic mishandling of such investigations.3 And now, the State Attorney's office has rubber-stamped the Sanford police's non-investigation, claiming that there is not enough evidence to support even a manslaughter conviction.4

Trayvon's family and hundreds of thousands of people around the country are demanding justice.5 Please join us in calling on the Department of Justice to take over the case, arrest Trayvon's killer, and launch an independent investigation into the Sanford police department's unwillingness to protect Trayvon's civil rights. It takes just a moment:

Walking home from the store shouldn't cost you your life, but when Black youth are routinely assumed to be violent criminals, being randomly killed is a constant danger.6 Before Zimmerman decided to get out of his parked car — gun in tow — to pursue Trayvon on foot that night, he called the police to identify Trayvon as a "suspicious person" — apparently because he was wearing a hoodie and walking too slowly in the rain for Zimmerman's liking. Despite being instructed not to follow Trayvon, Zimmerman proceeded to confront and fatally shoot the boy in the chest within a matter of minutes.7

The case has been compromised from the beginning. When Sanford police arrived on the scene, Zimmerman was first approached by a narcotics detective — not a homicide investigator — who "peppered him with questions" rather than allowing him to tell his story without prompting. Another officer "corrected" a witness giving a statement that she'd heard Trayvon cry for help before he was shot, telling her she had heard Zimmerman instead.8 And beyond the questions of professional competence or even the police's disregard for the facts, Florida's notorious "Shoot First" law takes a shooter's self-defense claim at face value — incentivizing law enforcement not to make arrests in shooting deaths that would lead to murder charges in other states.9

Sanford has a history of not prosecuting when the victim is Black. In 2010, the white son of a Sanford police lieutenant was let go by police after assaulting a homeless Black man outside a downtown bar. And, in 2005, a Black teenager was killed by two white security guards, one the son of a Sanford Police officer. The pair was arrested and charged, but a judge later cited lack of evidence and dismissed both cases.10

Please join us in calling on the Department of Justice to arrest Trayvon's killer and launch an investigation into the Sanford police department's mishandling of the case and when you do, ask your friends and family to do the same:

-- Rashad, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Natasha, Kim and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
March 19th, 2012

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

**************************************************************

Kony 2012′ filmmaker detained in San Diego

Jason Russell, the filmmaker behind the mega-viral "Kony 2012" documentary, was detained in San Diego on Thursday night, NBC reported, citing the San Diego Police Department.

Russell, 33, "was taken into custody after he was found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something,"NBC's San Diego affiliate reported, citing San Diego Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Andra Brown.

The San Diego Police Department's Brown did not immediately return two messages left Friday from Yahoo News.

The co-founder of the San Diego-based advocacy group Invisible Children was detained on San Diego's Pacific Beach "acting very strange" the NBC report said.

Russell's 30-minute documentary on Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army became a surprise mega viral hit, receiving over 80 million viewers since its release last week. But the film has also kicked up a backlash of criticism against the group, ranging from how Invisible Children spends its finances to whether it cut corners with the facts in order to create a more compelling film about a more than two-decade old Central African conflict.

But Invisible Children has also found many prominent defenders of its work, from members of Congress to President Barack Obama, who sent 100 U.S. special forces to Uganda last fall to search for Kony.

"I think that these guys are getting mercilessly picked apart by a bunch of intellectual elites who spend their days tweeting but never trending," Cameron Hudson, former Bush White House Africa hand, told Yahoo News last week. "If their aim is to raise awareness, they have done that in spades."

******************************************************************

Kony film director hospitalized after "unfortunate incident"

By Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston

(Reuters) - The maker of an Internet film gone viral that calls for the arrest of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony has been hospitalized in California following an "unfortunate incident" that his group and family said on Friday stemmed from the emotional toll of recent weeks.

Jason Russell, director of the 30-minute "Kony 2012" video and co-founder of the group Invisible Children, was hospitalized on Thursday for "exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition," Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey said in a statement.

"The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday," Keesey said, without providing further details.

"Jason's passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue," he said.

The movie Russell directed became an Internet sensation this month, racking up nearly 80 million hits on YouTube since it was posted with the aim of waking up the world to atrocities committed by the Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, including kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.

"We thought a few thousand people would see the film, but in less than a week, millions of people around the world saw it," Russell's wife Danica said in a statement on behalf of his family.

"While that attention was great for raising awareness about Joseph Kony, it also brought a lot of attention to Jason ... and, because of how personal the film is, many of the attacks against it were also very personal, and Jason took them very hard," she said.

She said that Russell had never had a "substance abuse or drinking problem" and that the episode in which he "did some irrational things" was brought on by "extreme exhaustion and dehydration."

"On our end the focus remains only on his health, and protecting our family. We'll take care of Jason, you take care of the work. The message of the film remains the same: stop at nothing," she added.

A host of celebrities, including George Clooney, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Oprah have joined the virtual chorus of support for the cause. The company owned by powerful producer Harvey Weinstein has also contacted Russell to buy the film.

A San Diego police spokeswoman, asked about media reports that Russell had been detained, said only that a 33-year-old white man had been taken to a medical facility on Thursday morning.

"The San Diego Police Department received several calls that he was acting bizarrely, running into traffic, interfering with traffic, yelling," San Diego Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Andra Brown said.

She said officers detained the man, who according to witnesses was in "various stages of undress," but did not arrest him after determining that it was more appropriate to transport him to a medical facility. She declined to name him.

The phenomenal success of Russell's video has been hailed for inspiring young people to activism, but has suffered some criticism including that it oversimplified a long-standing human rights crisis.

Russell, who narrates the video with a personal story that juxtaposes shots of his young son in San Diego, California, with the hopelessness of Ugandan children, has said the video was meant as a kick-starter to a complicated issue.

A spokesman for the San Diego area hospital where Russell was thought to have been taken could not immediately be reached for comment and it was not clear if he was there on Friday.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

****************************************************************************** Blast at Bus Station in Kenyan Capital Kills Three

NAIROBI (Reuters) - An explosion at a bus station in downtown Nairobi killed at least three people and wounded 40 on Saturday evening, with eight still in critical condition, the Kenya Red Cross said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Kenyan capital was hit by grenade attacks in October after Kenya sent troops into neighboring Somalia to fight al Shabaab, the militant group linked to al Qaeda. Police quickly blamed the Somali rebels.

After the attack a fire blazed in a small crater at the Machakos bus station and police cordoned off the area where the corpse of a man dressed in a blue jacket and white trousers lay on his back. Bystanders helped carry the wounded to ambulances.

"We have lost three: two male adults and one female," Francis Okonya, principal deputy police commissioner, said outside the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Police sources at the bus station near Nairobi's central business district said a grenade was thrown into a crowd, but witnesses told Reuters they heard up to four blasts.

There was no official confirmation of multiple explosions.

In October, grenades were used in an attack on a bar and another bus station, both near the scene of Saturday's attack, killing one person and wounding more than 20.

A Kenyan man arrested shortly afterwards pleaded guilty to that bus station attack and to being an al Shabaab member. He was sentenced to life in prison.

While Nairobi had been spared deadly attacks since then, suspected al Shabaab sympathizers have launched a string of deadly strikes in the north of the country near the Somali border and at the world's largest refugee camp in Dadaab, home to more than 400,000 Somali refugees.

The Muslim Youth Centre, a Kenyan movement that pledges allegiance to al Shabaab and al Qaeda, said on its Twitter account: "Blasts in Nairobi...more to follow...."

A United Nations report published last year said Kenyans were the largest and most organized non-Somali grouping within al Shabaab.

The investigators focused most of their attention on the activities of MYC, which has its roots in Nairobi's Majengo, a poor area just east of the central business district and near the bus station attacked on Saturday.

MYC has said many of its Kenyan fighters are now in the al Shabaab controlled-port city of Kismayu in southern Somalia.

Others are still in Kenya, though many have laid low since the October attacks, which prompted a heightened police presence in parts of the capital such as Majengo and Kayole, where the man behind the previous bus station attack was arrested.

(Reporting by Noor Khamis, Humphrey Malalo, David Clarke and William Maclean; Editing by Ben Harding)

I got your invitation card to the committee. I see you quoted an amount that I am expected to contribute.I must say that I feel honoured that you remember me. It has been years since the last time we spoke. I remember we used to be in the same school, and we recently befriended each other on Facebook.

However, friend, I must say that this came as a surprise to me. You see, I am unable to afford a wife myself. I have been planning to get a lady and head to the A.G chambers. I hear it will cost me very little money.

I see that your wife is trying to keep up with the Kardashians. It is a dream wedding that she wants. If you are able to afford that, my friend, it will be a very good thing to do. But, kindly do not tie me to financial obligations when mine are choking me. The current economic times have put a rope around everyone’s neck. I cannot afford Kshs 10,000/- (180,000/- Tsh) as contribution towards your wedding.

I am willing, more than willing to be a service provider- to oversee pitching of tents, directing guests to the sitting places, showing them the little rooms, collecting gifts.I am willing to attend the committee to pray for your marriage. I am willing to attend your wedding. I am willing to do all this. Friends need friends. But
friends don’t exploit friends.

I saw a facebook group you had created earlier as well- something about a goat eating party in preparation for ruracio (pre-wedding). You will forgive me, because the first thing I thought was: what a money collecting idea!

I could push myself and bring you a gift on your wedding day. It is a noble thing to do. However, I will not buy you a wife, help you wed her in an expensive ceremony, then stock your house. I often tell people to live within their means. I know you will thank me someday.

If you cannot afford your wife’s dream wedding, and you give it to her still, what happens when she is about to deliver, and she needs a dream delivery at the Aga Khan-Princess Zuhura Pavillion? Will you call us for an emergency ‘my-wife-is-delivering’ committee? When the kid wants to go to school and has to go to Cianda School and Makini School, will you call us in as well? The world has needier people, and more deserving causes!

All I am saying is a wedding, a luxurious one in this case is not for you if you cannot afford three quarter of the money required.

Louise White, a "vivacious" 81-year-old of Newport, R.I., stepped forward today as the winner of $336.4 million, the third largest Powerball lottery in the history of the game.

"I want to say that I'm very happy and I'm very proud. This will make my family very happy," she said. "We are truly blessed. Thank you."

White took her bonanza calmly, speaking briefly and then leaving the crowded news conference for her new team of attorneys to handle.

One of her attorneys, Jason Kurland, called her "vivacious as any octogenarian."

The funds will go to the Rainbow Sherbert Trust, named after the dessert that she purchased last month while buying the lottery ticket, although the correct spelling is sherbet.

A family spokesman said the winning ticket was kept in White's Bible -- which she then slept with -- until she could get to a bank and put it in a safe deposit box.

White chose to accept the lump sum payment of $210 million, rather than the 30 annuity payments paid out over 29 years. White will pay about $52.5 million in federal taxes and $14.7 million in state taxes.

White said in a statement that was handed out at the news conference that she was waiting that Saturday, Feb. 11, with a grocery list for someone to take her to the store. In her list was a Powerball ticket in time for the evening's drawing. She said she the person who was supposed to take her that morning "was working all day at home and couldn't get away."

"Then around [7 p.m.] a family member wanted some rainbow sherbert to eat later, so they decided to go to the Stop N Shop," White wrote in a statement.

"I had just finished making a sandwich and was asked if I wanted anything at the store and I said emphatically, 'I can't believe you asked me if I want you to get me something. NO, I don't want you to get me something,'" she wrote in the statement, "I want to go with you!"

After buying the tickets, White said she was at home later that evening listening to the news "while the family enjoyed the rainbow sherbert."

She listened to news and copied down the winning numbers, but didn't check her tickets until later. When she realized she had the matching numbers, she yelled, "Is anybody awake? I want you to come look at something."

She said she and her family were in disbelief, checking the lottery website, then re-starting the computer and checking it again.

"We hugged each other and jumped up and down screaming!!," she wrote. "Then I was told to 'Sign it quick!!'"

"We're excited, very blessed and will determine in the coming months how we'll spend the money, but we know we'll always have rainbow sherbert," she wrote.

The sherbert and the ticket was sold from Stop & Shop at 250 Bellevue Ave. in Newport, R.I. for $3, among the three quickpick tickets she bought.

A spokeswoman for Stop & Shop had said before today's announcement that White's family are "frequent" and "valued" customers at the store.

"We're very pleased to be part of the history," Suzi Robinson said before the announcement.

Robinson said White's son, LeRoy White, 63, of Newport is "well known in the community." LeRoy White, a musician, lives about a mile away from the grocery store. Her attorneys said she was from Newport though public records show she at one time lived in the town of Middletown, about five miles away.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chaffee was present for the historic win and praised for waiting to claim her prize and getting professional help as well. "You were lucky and smart," Chaffee said.

The jackpot win is the first since the newly revamped $2 version of the PowerBall game debuted Jan. 15, according to lottery officials.

While the chances of winning the lottery are slim, there are ways to increase your chances, says Richard Lustig, a seven time lottery winner in Florida who has earned more than $1 million.

In "Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery," Lustig shares the strategy he calls "the winning lottery method."

"[Playing the lotto is] like any investment. You have to invest money to get something out of it," says Lustig, 59, a former singer and drummer from Florida.

"Most people buy a $1 ticket and win $10 and they put the $10 in their pocket," says Lustig. Those people are playing the game wrong. Instead, he says, if you win $10, then you should buy $11 worth of tickets because "if you lose, you only lost a $1."

The process earned him $98,000 after he played the Fantasy 5 game in Florida. The first prize he took home was in 1992, for $10,000.

I use lottery money all the time to buy more tickets," Lustig said in 2010.

Rush Limbaugh has gone too far with his attacks on Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke, calling her a "slut" and a "prostitute" and suggesting she post video tapes of herself online having sex.

Rush Limbaugh's radio show is a part of the Clear Channel lineup, and it's time that they no longer allow Rush Limbaugh to spew hateful and derogatory comments. That's why I created a petition to Clear Channel on SignOn.org, which says:

Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University who was advocating for health insurance plans to cover the cost of contraception, became the target of a series of attacks by Rush Limbaugh. Besides calling her a "slut," he also called her a "prostitute," said that he wanted her to make sex tapes and post them online, and speculated that she only had a problem paying for contraception because she was having "so much sex." We who support Ms. Fluke find that this is a serious offense committed by Mr. Limbaugh, and we ask that his radio show be terminated.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

The text above was written by D. Washington, not by MoveOn staff, and MoveOn is not responsible for the content. This email was sent through MoveOn's secure system, and your information has been kept private.

Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

Kipawa, a district of Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, used to be a lively neighbourhood, home to about 1,300 families. Many residents had lived there for most of their lives. Now, the area has been completely demolished and fenced in. A sign on the fence says a Chinese company, China International Fund, is to construct a terminal building here as part of a project to extend the country's main airport.

It is almost two years since the community was evicted to make way for the development, and yet there are no signs of construction in Kipawa. The area has become a deserted field. Most former residents were relocated 36km to the west; they no longer have access to electricity, clean water, roads or schools, and they face long journeys.

More than 480 families protested against a proposed compensation package that, they said, undervalued their homes by 50% and was based on an obsolete land acquisition act dating from 1967. Nevertheless, in February 2010, the eviction was carried out suddenly. Teargas was used and more than 300 buildings were demolished within two days. Many people became homeless overnight, according to the Legal and Human Rights Centre, a Tanzania-based NGO.

Like many other Kipawa residents, Eric had to prioritise his spending when he used his compensation of 6m Tanzanian shillings ($3,800) to build a new house. His budget only allowed him to put a roof over one room, which now accommodates the family of eight.

Eric told us the family got by living without electricity. Doing without clean water is harder, but even that remains an unaffordable luxury. The only available water comes from a muddy ground well dug by the locals. Machines to drill and pump clean underground water cost at least 10m shillings.

One of the hardest things to bear is that the displacement may turn out to be pointless, since the Tanzanian government has admitted the investment for its airport projects is not yet in place.

Suleiman Suleiman, managing director of the Tanzanian Airports Authority (TAA), told us negotiations with the Chinese investors had broken off and the terminal project has been suspended until new investment comes in. The signs bearing the name of the Chinese investors on the fence has now been painted over.

According to local sources, it all looked a rather different story in March 2007, when Chinese businessman Sam Po flew his private jet into Tanzania. Po represents the 88 Queensway Group, a body of companies – including the China International Fund (CIF) and China Sonangol International Holding – registered at that address in Hong Kong. His visit was well received by high-ranking Tanzanian officials, not least because he offered to upgrade Julius Nyerere international airport and revive Air Tanzania, the troubled national flag-carrier.

Po's companies have done substantial business in Africa. Building a new terminal at Dar es Salaam airport will cost at least $300m, says Suleiman. Po has promised six other projects to upgrade the airport, according to a memorandum of understanding between China Sonangol and the TAA.

A few months after signing the memorandum, China Sonangol was granted licences to explore two oilfields in the Lake Rukwa basin in south-west Tanzania. Zitto Kabwe, chairman of one of the Tanzanian parliamentary accounts committees, says it is clear the two deals were linked.

The Guardian made repeated attempts to obtain comment from CIF and China Sonangol, but they failed to respond.

A decision by the Tanzanian parliament may explain the retreat of the Chinese investors and the silence on the planned construction in Kipawa. Kabwe set up an inquiry, which found that China Sonangol has been granted oil concessions outside normal procedure in 2009. A year later, the parliament forced the authorities to withdraw the oil licences granted to the Chinese company.

But Kabwe said he was concerned at "how Tanzanians will have to pay back the Chinese". The near-bankrupt Air Tanzania pulled itself back into doing business by using the $21m from China Sonangol. "The Chinese investors have left behind two airplanes, which we are using," says Paul Chizi, CEO of Air Tanzania. The VIP terminal at Dar es Salaam airport was also built free of charge by the Chinese company, at an estimated cost of $6m.

Meanwhile, the 1,300 families evicted from Kipawa are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

• This article was researched with a grant from the journalism department of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

About Me

I worked for Tanzania's Daily News for 11 years leaving as a Senior Reporter. I love acting, films, short story writing and cooking. I blog in English and Swahili. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and AFTRA.
You can contact me at chemiche3@yahoo.com.